Beer: Ratings & Reviews

On tap at The Kinsale in Boston, served in the Smuttynose Big Beer tulip, Brett & I is murky dark gold with a small, creamy white head that leaves scattered lace. Typed from notes within a week of taking them while relaxing in their outside seating after a nice Saturday walking the Freedom trail.

Smell is soft, with caramel malt but not particularly sweet, fusel alcohol and slight barnyard.

Taste is pretty strong and boozy, very white wine like, and not much brett funkiness save for being a bit on the drier, not sugary side for a thicker beer. IMHO this is not ready yet and should have been aged by brewery a good bit longer, to let the complexities of the brett develop and continue to thin out the malty mouthfeel, as well as generally smooth out the harsh alcohol bite. Big pet-peeve of mine in fact, when funky or sour beers are released to retail before the bugs have had time to actually get funky!!! I'm probably being hard on this because of the name, and lack of overwhelming brett character. Maybe they just used it in the secondary?

Mouthfeel is thick and drier, a boozy solvent feel.

Drinkability was lower for me, a pretty big disappointment as I really love some brett beers. I was expecting something like De Proef's Flemish Primitive's, but this was more of a heavy booze bomb, again, very wine like in regards to the strength of the alcohol, which is not something I wanted to drink a glass of, nor have be the dominating flavor.

Poured into a snifter the beer had almost no head and minimal lacing. Had a nose not unlike a dry white wine. The taste was dry, sour, tart and had a nice bready graininess in the back. Not a bad beer, but could be more visually enticing. Listed at the bar as 7% so I don't know what's up there.

750ml Bottle.A) Pours with a finger thick head that quickly dissipates to nothing. Relatively clear rust orange body. No lacing on the drink down.S) Subtle woodsy - oak notes. A bit of a wet dog aroma. Overall not too aromatic.T) Beneath the initial sour bite are notes of grapefruit, green apple, and nuts. M) Medium-light body. Nearly zero carbonation. Drinks like a white wine. Dry in the finish.O) A decent brew. My palate isn't acclimated to sours / brett beers so I am not a reliable review. Although I will say a very drinkable beer. Not too sour and still has some nice taste characteristics instead of a sucker punch to the face.

Off the tap at American Flatbread this beer was a cloudy, amber-gold color. The one-finger, cream-colored head displayed good retention as a thin cap to a skim and left decent lacing. The aroma was tangy, citrus, spice and sour green apples. The flavors were very tangy. I tasted orange, lemon, a wheat twang, the spiciness of Brettanomyces, alcohol, Cascade hops and a hint of hoppy bitterness. Tight, tart and highly acidic, so much so that I wouldn't order another. The mouthfeel was smooth, the body was medium and the carbonation light/medium.

Pours a golden color with a tinge of orange and a bit of haze, good sized head and some sticky lacing.

Smell seems a bit musty actually, not really picking up much of the funky brett characteristics, has more of a spicy fruit aroma but definitely lacking in funk.

Taste is rather mild but this was the follow-up to the Oak Aged Maibock afterall, has a light malt taste with fruit in the background and earthy undertones, a crisp but soft carbonation works very well though.

This is pretty much average in all regards. The appearance was fine, but didn't impress me. It had what you'd expect from an on-tap beer. The brett introduced a unique taste, but it didn't stand above or below any other brett'ed beer. Still, it was not bad and I'd easily have this again.

They poured this at the "From Smutty With Love" event at American Flatbread Burlington Hearth yesterday and were having problems with the amount of foam. I managed to get the bar manager to score me a pour. I had to let it settle for about 3 minutes before even thinking about getting near it.

HUGE bone white head and golden, somewhat cloudy appearance. Nosings of sour green apple and sour white peach with stone. Some earthy, bark-like notes. The palate was moderately sour and medium bodied. Flavors of Brett and sour peach were wrapped up by wooded notes and an astringent finish. The finish was a little too dry for me, a little too "woody" feeling. A nice effort, but either needs some time to settle out or needs a little tweaking.

Presentation: Served on tap into a Smuttynose Big Beer tulip glass. A really large pour (well over 12 oz.).

Appearance: Golden yellow in color, but doesn't pour much of a head surprisingly. A few fizzy white bubbles recede almost immediately into nothing.

Aroma" Big lemon and tart green apples upfront. I figured this might be more heavy on the funk and light on the sour from the name, but there is definitely a pretty vibrant sour character. I do get a bit of the brett as well, but not as much as I expected.

Taste: Sour green apple and lemon notes upfront. A sort of white wine sweetness is present as well. This is actually a lot sweeter than I would have suspected. The brett notes become more noticable as the sour fades, but they seem a bit underdeveloped and a bit muddled. Pretty refreshing overall, but not a stand out.

Mouthfeel: Surprisingly heavy for the style. There is a good amount of body and it is a bit syrupy. Carbonation is not flat but definitely on the lower end of the spectrum.

Overall, a decent sour beer from Smuttynose and a good attempt for their first real shot at the style. I think it really suffered from the mouthfeel being too syrupy and the lack of carbonation, which might have brightened everything up a bit. I would be interested to see how this is holding up in a couple years, but right now it is jsut average.

On tap at the blind tiger.Poured a golden color with a small white head.Aroma of hops, citrus and the faintest amount of brett. I was hoping for alot more, kinda disappointed. Where is the funk?Flavor of citrus, malt and a small tart and dry finish. Again i was disappointed, no funk. Overall it was a good beer, but if you are going to putt "Brett" in the name at least make it taste like a brett beer.

Appearance (3.0): Essentially no head on this, it foams for a bit and settles to a thin collar of off-white carbonation around the edge of the glass, leaving no lacing. The body, however, is quite attractive, boasting a crystal-clear bronze color—very clean and crisp-looking.

Smell (4.0): All brett here: slightly musty, with a moderate white pepper character laced all over the place. There’s a lightly sweet malt character, enhanced by that strange fruitiness that super-bretty beers will develop: some green apple, some apricot. Not a bad-smelling beer, for sure.

Taste (4.0): Somewhat tart, not sour, with more of the same fruit tones (green apple’s crisp, tart sweetness, richer and bolder apricot, and the kind of neutral sweetness of pear), more white pepper behind the fruitiness, and some tame, low-lying mustiness throughout, operating underneath the rest of this. Malt? Hops? Both are very, very neutral here, as this is definitely a yeast- (and without a question, brett-) forward beer. Extraordinarily vinous in nature, actually—this has more in common with white wine than it does with your typical beer.

Overall (3.5): A Brett story, for sure. This has so many qualities that strike me as vinous more than anything else. From what I can tell, this beer was apparently brewed with Brett B and a Trappist strain, then inoculated with lacto and aged in neutral oak barrels for 10 months. Given that knowledge, the low carbonation and yeast-forwardness of this beer makes a lot more sense. Not what I’d call a Belgian Pale Ale, but that’s what it is for lack of a better category on here (wouldn’t really call it an American Wild, either). Interesting beer, glad to have tried. Thanks again, Jeremy!

Had this recently on tap. I'm thinking age may have helped this beer along. I didn't find it overly alcoholic at all and fairly drinkable. Didn't have much of a head at all when I got it, served in a small snifter. Smelled a little malty, with mostly brett earthyness. Fairly light on the palate with a dry crisp finish. Taste was pleasant. Sort of earthy with some brett tartness and a malt backbone. It was a sipper for me and wouldn't have more than one, but was pretty refreshing still on a hot humid night in August.